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Apparently my phone summoned an uber while it was in my pocket for a straight hour while I was at lunch the other day, and I was charged 6 dollars and refused a refund.

Permanently deleted, without regret.




Which is indistinguishable from a "crank call" Uber request (from Uber's point of view)

Not saying it is the case, but owing up to one's mistakes is the least one can do


If I hail a taxi cab, by butt-dialing their line, they are extremely unlikely to interpret it as a crank call.

At least, the kind of crank call where they'd need to send a cab.

Either way, please lock your devices.


If you dial a taxi you need to provide your pickup place and name usually, accidentally dialing it won't make a car get to you. Not sure that's what you mean.


I deleted it because the only GPS option is "always on" now. Can't limit it to when app is on. Load of crap. I'm surprised Apple allows that to be an exclusive policy at all.


That's not correct, there are two options, always on, and no access. Uber still works fine if you refuse to grant access to your location, you just have to put your location in manually. If you've already granted permission, you can revoke it by going to Settings > Uber > Location. Apple aren't going to kick Uber out of the App Store if it works fine when you don't grant permission.


Ah, gotcha. I didn't realize it would function at all with no access.

Still, only on when app is on would be the best choice.


This seems like an overreaction for a measly $6.


Perhaps. It's more the principal of the matter. Why accept it if it's 6 dollars vs 100?


Effort put in and results put out.

If someone steps on the back of your shoes, is reacting the same way as if they had stolen them not counterproductive?


More like, if someone steals $6 out of your pocket, would you trust them to keep walking behind you?


No.

But, I don't think this is parallel to butt-dialing Uber.

Maybe if you had $6 hanging out of your back pocket, they flew out, someone picked them up, and when confronted said that they didn't do it.


Not even that comparison is fair to uber. From Uber's point of view, his actions are indistinguishable from someone who hailed an uber and changed their minds.

Now, I don't know why uber didn't offer him the benefit of the doubt, but they were well within their rights not to refund. They did nothing unethical.


Right, especially since it was his own fault.




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